Rating:
5 votes

Longfellow Bridge

Suffolk County, Massachusetts, and Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Photos 

General View Of The Longfellow Bridge

Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record

View photos at Library of Congress

BH Photo #221457

Map 

Street Views 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Steel arch bridge over Charles River on Mass. Hwy 3 (Cambridge Street) in Boston and Cambridge
Location
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, and Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Status
Open to traffic
Future prospects
Rehabilitation project underway. Bridge will include replacing failed rivets with rivets (not modern high strength bolts) to maintain maximum historic integrity.
History
Built 1906; rehabilitated 1959 and 2011
Builders
- Holbrook, Cabot & Rollins Corp. of Boston, Massachusetts (Substructure & Deck Masonry Contractor)
- Phoenix Bridge Co. of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania (Superstructure)
- Rockport Granite Co. (Stone supplier)
- Rosales + Partners of Boston, Massachusetts. (architect on 2011 restoration)
- Skanska AB of Stockholm, Sweden (Contractor for 2013-8 rehab)
Design
Steel arch
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 243.1 ft.
Total length: 2,134.9 ft. (0.4 mi.)
Deck width: 90.6 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places
Also called
Cambridge Bridge
Charles River Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+42.36111, -71.07250   (decimal degrees)
42°21'40" N, 71°04'21" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
19/329330/4691951 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Boston South
Inventory numbers
MA B16009 (Massachusetts bridge number)
BH 19444 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 09/2014)
Deck condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 18.5 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2014)
55,700

Categories 

Arch (11,155)
Boston, Massachusetts (73)
Built 1905 (721)
Built during 1900s (6,257)
Charles River (45)
Deck arch (10,399)
HAER documented (1,096)
Have street view (21,887)
Holbrook, Cabot & Rollins Corp. (6)
Massachusetts (943)
Middlesex County, Massachusetts (209)
NR-listed (2,841)
 Navigable waterway (1,998)
Open (36,411)
Owned by state (13,575)
Phoenix Bridge Co. (133)
Rockport Granite Co. (1)
Rosales + Partners (10)
Skanska AB (3)
Span length 175-250 feet (1,798)
Steel arch (340)
Structurally deficient (18,358)
Suffolk County, Massachusetts (95)
Total length 1000-2500 feet (1,654)

Update Log 

  • August 1, 2015: New photo from Ian Martin
  • August 20, 2013: Photo imported by Dave King
  • June 25, 2013: Updated by Nathan Holth: Bridge to be rehabilitated.
  • January 24, 2013: Updated by Andy Peters: adds Middlesex County, Mass.
  • December 7, 2011: Photos imported by James Baughn
  • August 3, 2011: Updated by Nathan Holth: Corrected Name

Related Bridges 

Sources 

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Comments 

Longfellow Bridge
Posted July 28, 2015, by Ian Martin

Looks like construction is taking longer than expected: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/07/28/longfellow-bridg...

Longfellow Bridge
Posted June 15, 2014, by ArtS (asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com)

Surplus granite anyone?

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/06/14/with-longfellow...

Longfellow Bridge
Posted May 23, 2014, by Will Truax (Bridgewright [at] aol [dot] com)

A nice piece on the ongoing rehab -

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/05/20/longfellow-bridg...

Longfellow Bridge
Posted August 3, 2011, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

An enormous historical text that includes historical photos and numerous plan sheets is available here: http://www.archive.org/details/reportofcambridg00mass

Charles River Bridge
Posted February 5, 2008, by Seth Taylor (seth [dot] taylor [at] uconn [dot] edu)

This bridge is called the Longfellow Bridge